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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309160">Conversational</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TariSilmarwen/pseuds/TariSilmarwen'>TariSilmarwen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bounty Hunters, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Kidnapping, Restraints, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, and irritates his captors, cal is a mouthy captive</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:36:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,315</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309160</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TariSilmarwen/pseuds/TariSilmarwen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Capturing a Jedi is almost more trouble than it's worth.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Conversational</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Last one for this batch. A bit lighter on the whump but I hope entertaining nonetheless.</p><p>Prompt used was <b>No. 3 My Way Or The Highway: Manhandled/Forced To Their Knees/Held At Gunpoint</b></p><p>See y'all next year dears!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mercenaries didn't quite get the jump on Cal the way they'd planned—owing to his Force senses and a shrill warning from BD-1—but there were still many more of them than there were of him, so in spite of the valiant fight the boy put up, they had him on the ground, arms pinned behind him, within a few minutes.</p><p>BD took enormous offense, running in and stinging mercenaries in the leg until Cal shouted at him to leave, go get help, go find Cere. The little droid beeped uncertainly until Cal repeated his order and then scurried off before the mercenaries could grab him, darting away underfoot until Cal could no longer see him.</p><p>Cal grit his teeth, his feet scratching the ground, toes scraping the loose dirt as he strained against the hold they hand on him.</p><p>"Keep 'im still!" one of them hissed, checking the holographic wanted poster on his datapad. His eyes flicked back and forth between the image and Cal a few times. He shut off the pad with a satisfied click. "Yup. It's 'im," he confirmed.</p><p>"Get him secured!" the heavily-scarred Trandoshan that appeared to be the ringleader barked.</p><p>The two men holding Cal hauled him up to his feet, grip moving from his forearms down to his wrists. Binders were placed on his hands, pinching tightly.</p><p>"You're making a big mistake," Cal warned, his eyes glaring dangerously.</p><p>They paid him no heed, shoving him forward with a hard push to his shoulders, grabbing up his arms and dragging him when he refused to be cooperative.</p><p>Cal was taken to a cloistered warehouse, a little ways set apart from the main street. The stench of spice and piss and unwashed flesh wafted through the open air, making Cal wrinkle his nose in disgust.</p><p>He was shoved down to his knees in front of a human woman in a fancy blue coat, lounging casually across a set of cargo crates with a tall drink in her hands.</p><p>"Well well," she said, smirk spreading across her face at the sight of him. "You must be that red-haired Jedi making trouble for the Empire everyone's talking about. Cal... Kestis, was it? You're younger than I expected," she commented haughtily.</p><p>"And you're Renora Thrall," he replied, voice flat and unamused. "The Pikes' most notorious blaster for hire." He made a show of glancing up and down at her. "You're not as attractive as reports indicated," he said.</p><p>Her eyes flashed in outrage, her fingernails gripping her glass a little tighter. Sourly, she drolled, "Good thing they didn't hire me for my looks then." Lifting her feet from her makeshift footstool, she rose, stalking over in stiff motions.</p><p>Cal had enough warning to squeeze his eyes closed and flinch as she dumped out the contents of her drink into his face. She hurled away the glass, shattering it against the floor as raucous jeering laughter and shouts of approval sounded from her men around her.</p><p>"I don't like being insulted in my own house," she hissed, expression stormy.</p><p>"I can take my insults elsewhere if you let me go," Cal offered.</p><p>A flicker of amusement passed between her narrowed brows. "Nice try, kid." She sauntered away, apparently no longer interested in him. "Put him in one of the holding pens," she told her lackeys.</p><p>Cal grimaced as his arms were seized again, as he was pulled upright and pushed along towards a corner of the room, where a hallway branched off into darkness. The rowdy voices of the mercenaries faded into the background behind him. Dim yellow ceiling strips were the only illumination, and the air seemed to grow a bit colder as they led him down the corridor.</p><p>The young Jedi's eyes glanced one way and then the other, surreptitiously, taking in his surrounds with only the smallest eye movements trying not to look like he was looking. He tested the flimsy metal bands around his wrists. Old, very old. Probably pre-Empire old. The modern Imperial-grade binders had a bit of a nasty secret trick; a thin core of Force-resistant material in the alloy. It didn't prevent the wearer from using the Force, or prevent the Force from being used on it by someone else, merely prevented the wearer from being able to unlock his own cuffs. Cal had discovered this fact after being briefly captured by an unlucky squad of Stormtroopers. What had taken Cal hours to struggle against with no progress Cere had been able to unlatch in moments.</p><p>He and Cere often wondered if they had knowingly been designed that way—designed to contain stray Force Sensitives who were untrained and without allies.</p><p>In any case, that wouldn't be an issue with this model. The tiniest bit of concentration snapped the lock quietly, loosing the bands.</p><p>Cal stayed docile for just a few more moments, checking around now for possible escape routes.</p><p>"First time holding a Jedi?" he asked the men holding him.</p><p>One of them grunted, but otherwise they made no reply, continuing to drag him along. Cal saw that they were coming to what looked like a row of cells, and quickly decided not to drag things out.</p><p>"Yeah. I thought so."</p><p>He dug in his feet.</p><p>The guards began to turn inwards towards him, annoyance on their faces, but that was when Cal let the open binders drop off him, bringing his hands around and up, palms already splaying, summoning power.</p><p>A duel pair of startled yelps sounded as the Force blasted the men back, Cal pushing them hard, sending them sailing across the hallway. One man bounced off the side of a cell doorway, the other hit the ground with a solid<em> thud!</em>, both of them crumpled in a daze.</p><p>Cal quickly darted forward, searching the men for his lightsaber. It had been taken in the initial scuffle and he hoped—</p><p><em>Yes! </em>he thought in triumph, hand closing around a familiar metal hilt. He yanked his saber free from the man's belt and was already igniting it as he stood up.</p><p>Shouts sounded from further down the hallway, a cadre of mercenaries stationed in front of the cells, alerting and coming towards him.</p><p>Cal became a whirling flurry of light, quick strikes, his blue blade flashing and dancing in the dim light.</p><p>Breaking his way into the clear, Cal took off at a run. His feet pounded up the hallway. He ducked down one corridor after another, trying to find the way out. The warehouse was like a maze, twisting and turning, confusing pathways crossing each other and spilling him into multiple confrontations with armed bounty hunters. Cal's heart raced the whole time, adrenaline rush loudly pinging through his body but not touching his head, which remained in a pool of supernatural calm, connected to the Force.</p><p>He grew more anxious by the minute, though, as he found he could not find his way out of the compound. More and more mercenaries placed themselves in his path, and his forward progress ground almost to a halt. No matter how much his saber spun and slashed, slicing through blasters and limbs, searing across chests, there seemed to be no end to them.</p><p>He heard Renora's voice above the cacophony, loud and indignant.</p><p>"What the <em>hell?</em>" she shouted.</p><p>Cal glimpsed her around the drooling Trandoshan he was busy fending off, standing in one of the doorways of the room he was currently in, mouth agape, expression scandalized.</p><p>"What are you boneheads even <em>doing?!</em>" she complained. "Just stun him!"</p><p>The Trandoshan backed off to get some space, and Cal heard the warning clicks of several blasters as they were leveled at him.</p><p>Grimacing, he braced himself, holding his lightsaber up in a useless show of defiance.</p><p>Several stun shots hit him at once, coming from all directions, and Cal seized up, his body going limp and boneless, the saber dropping from his paralyzed hands. The ground came up swiftly to meet him, and the last thing he felt was the duracrete floor smacking into his cheek.</p><p>Dazed, he lay there for a few moments, quietly, nonsensically marveling at how smooth the tilework was before darkness overtook him.</p><p>-JFO-</p><p>The headache he had upon awakening was massive.</p><p>Cal groaned, reaching up a hand, pressing it hard across his eye and cheek to stop the pounding vibrations.</p><p>Force he hated that.</p><p>His body ached, throbbing in several places where he'd been hit. Moving slowly, gingerly, Cal raised himself up off the floor, blinked dazedly to take in the room.</p><p>He was in one of the cells, no surprise, with a burly Gamorrean sitting just outside, pig-like eyes watching him warily and thick fingers gripped around its stave.</p><p>Cal finished sitting up, rubbing his temples and willing away the residual pain.</p><p><em>Note to self,</em> he thought. <em>Need a map.</em></p><p>If BD had been with him he could have found his way out of the compound in no time.</p><p>He hoped the little droid had been able to make it back to the <em>Mantis</em>.</p><p>Through his headache, he heard the sound of light footsteps, voices conferring with each other just outside. A patch of blue drifted into his vision. He squinted up through the bars at Renora, who was standing with hands on her hips, mouth twisted up in a smug, mocking, smirk.</p><p>"How's your head, Red?" she asked, her voice dripping with mockery. "Hope the boys didn't damage you too much."</p><p>Cal felt flickers of irritation inside his chest, burning right underneath his sternum. His mouth was moving before he could stop himself. "Try getting stunned a few dozen times over and let me know how <em>you</em> feel," he grumbled.</p><p>She chuckled darkly. "I'll pass, thanks." She crossed her arms, puffing herself up with importance. "Any last requests before I get rich off your cute little hide, Jedi?"</p><p>Cal scowled, draping his arms overtop his knees. "You always this chatty with prisoners?" he complained.</p><p>She shrugged. "Only the pretty ones," she said nonchalantly.</p><p>Ah yes. Nefarious ladies flirting with him. That at least was something he was used to, and could handle.</p><p>He gave a cocky smirk. "Sorry. I don't like you that way," he told her. "I don't like you <em>at all</em>, in fact. The whole capturing-me-to-collect-on-a-bounty thing? Real turn-off."</p><p>Her pleasant demeanor turned frigid.</p><p>She suddenly pulled out her sidearm, reaching through the bars and grabbing Cal by the collar. The young Jedi choked a bit as she yanked him towards her, his face mashing against the rusty iron.</p><p>"I don't <em>have </em>to be nice, kid," she said, coldly. She pressed the barrel of her blaster right up against Cal's forehead. "I could just put a blaster bolt in your head and be done with it," she threatened.</p><p>Cal's pulse was anxious inside him, his breath catching fearfully, but he swallowed down his momentary terror and unease and met her eyes bravely.</p><p>"But you won't," he said.</p><p>The barrel pressed harder, making him flinch.</p><p>"And why's that?" Renora demanded, finger twitching on the trigger.</p><p>Cal steadied himself with a slow inhale, willing the fear he felt to ease away, disappear into the Force.</p><p>"Because I'm worth more alive," he pointed out.</p><p>For several anxious seconds he wasn't sure his argument had reached her ears. The barrel stayed tight against his temple, one wrong move threatening to end his existence right there.</p><p>Then, Renora seemed to think better about killing him, withdrawing her sidearm at last.</p><p>"You're right about that," she said, almost disappointed. She tilted her head, cocking her ear towards the wall like she could hear something he couldn't.  "Speaking of... your collectors should be here soon." She grinned in perverse enjoyment. "I better go make them feel welcome," she said, raising up again, tucking her blaster into its holster by her side and sauntering off towards the main chamber.</p><p>Cal watched her go, waiting until she was out of sight before breathing a sigh of relief.</p><p>He curled his legs up underneath himself, inhaling slowly, calming his mind. He should try to meditate some, clear his head, before his ominous "collectors" arrived.</p><p>The cell slowly faded out as he immersed himself in the Force.</p><p>-JFO-</p><p>Renora dumped another gurgling handful of rumwine into her cup, then set the bottle aside on the tray with satisfaction. The Empire's agents had come and collected her bothersome little prisoner, he was out of her hair, and now she could finally relax again. The mouthy young Jedi had been really starting to get on her nerves.</p><p>She sipped her drink slowly, casually, watching the progress of a sabaac game a knot of her lackeys were playing nearby. They had paused to argue about the merits of someone's hand and she almost didn't hear the odd thumping coming from just outside.</p><p>The thumping preceded an unexpected green fiery blast that flung open the warehouse doors, slamming them against the insides.</p><p>The mercenary startled, the wine sloshing onto her collar as she jerked it.</p><p>"The <em>hell?!</em>" she blurted.</p><p>Two figures rushed in, charging to meet the bounty hunters rising from their seats and drawing blasters. One, a woman in simple clothes, wielding a red-bladed lightsaber. The other, some kind of... <em>she-demon</em> with glowing green eyes, ichor bubbling around her hands that she flung at Renora's men, growling words of power in a loud, echoing voice.</p><p>There was a dying yelp from her left and almost before she knew it, the two women had slashed and blasted through all her henchmen and closed in on her.</p><p>The dark-haired woman stepped slowly forward, blade extended. Her brows were narrowed with an expression of calm fury that made Renora flinch back.</p><p>"Where's my padawan?" she demanded, holding the blade level at the mercenary's face.</p><p>Renora gulped, unsticking her throat. "You mean Little Red?" she squeaked. Her blaster was foolishly off her belt and laying away from her on the tray, fat lot of good it would do her now. She scowled, regaining some of her composure and shrugging. "Gone already, the Empire already picked him up."</p><p>"When?" the other woman hissed, pale skin ghostly in the warehouse light. "How long ago? Speak!" she demanded, eyes flashing.</p><p>"What, you want him back?" Renora snarked flatly. "You know how annoying that kid was? Only had him for an hour and he still managed to make an absolute mess of my base."</p><p>The pale woman stepped forward threateningly. "If you value your head remaining on your shoulders you will tell us where our friend has been taken," she bit icily.</p><p>Her hands began to glow up again.</p><p>"Yeesh, fine, fine!" Renora gave in, throwing her hands up in surrender. "Something about landing platform 7A I think? They're weren't here more than ten minutes ago, you can probably catch up to them."</p><p>The two women exchanged glances, and then the dark-haired one turned off her lightsaber, nodding.</p><p>"Thank you for your cooperation," she said.</p><p>She and her companion turned on their heels, walking out of the room and leaving Renora in the middle of their carnage.</p><p>Her mouth twisted as she looked over the dead fallen bodies of her help, feeling put out and sulky. They had all been expensive and skilled hires and the profit she'd just made off the Jedi boy only barely covered it.</p><p>"Right," she grumbled. "So that's the last time I deal with Jedi."</p><p>She downed her drink miserably and resolved to spend the rest of the night in a drunken coma.</p><p>-JFO-</p><p>The Imperial-grade binders on his wrists were much sturdier than the ones the bounty hunters had put on him and, as expected, Cal couldn't unlock them. The Stormtroopers were much more alert about him and his abilities, both guards on him keeping firm hold of their blasters with their other hands, and multiple other troopers stalking close in front and behind them, flanking him on all sides.</p><p>Cal could feel nervous pricks moving through him, and fought to keep his breath steady, keep his lungs from giving in to the phantom pressure he could feel just around him, incorporeal and threatening.</p><p><em>Panicking isn't going to help now</em>, he reminded himself, nervously looking ahead towards the shuttle parked on the landing pad in front of them. <em>Focus. Stay calm. Cere will come for me.</em></p><p>As he thought her name, he could feel her presence moving in his periphery. She was close.</p><p>Cal suppressed a relieved laugh. The troopers holding him mistook it for an attempt to wriggle free, and wrenched back on his arms, harshly.</p><p>He grimaced as they pulled him tighter upright, scanning anxiously around, trying to see if he could pinpoint where his rescue was coming from.</p><p><em>Come on Cere</em>, he thought. <em>Merrin... BD... where are you?</em></p><p>The docklights suddenly popped, fizzling and shorting out, plunging the landing pad into darkness.</p><p>"What the—?" the troopers blurted in confusion. Several of them tensed, ducking over their raised weapons.</p><p>A familiar beeping trilled out from the shadows to Cal's right. The young Jedi's face broke into a grin, hearing the helpful warning.</p><p>He glanced over at the trooper on his left, apologetic.</p><p>"Sorry about this."</p><p>He yanked himself out of both troopers' grips and dropped, hitting the deck as blasts of Nightsister magick flared over his head. There were yelps from the Stormtroopers and thuds as they dropped, and the sound of blasterfire rang out as the landing pad dissolved into chaos. The red-bladed old Inquisitor lightsaber buzzed and snapped as it tore through metal and armor, singed against flesh. Cal heard the shouts of pain and raised his head.</p><p>Merrin stepped out of wavering green mist behind him, kneeling down and loosing his hands.</p><p>"This is the last time we are letting you go out on scouting trips alone," she chided.</p><p>Cal said nothing in defense as the binders dropped off his wrists and his head screamed in relief. He brought his hands forward, gingerly massaging the bruises that were forming there, smiling as a scuttling BD-1 zipped across the landing pad, chittering anxiously, beeps full of concern.</p><p>"Hey buddy," he said, reaching over and booping the little droid on its main ocular lens. "I'm all right now."</p><p>BD trilled, compartment popping open, offering him a stim.</p><p>He put up a hand to refuse. "I'm not hurt," he promised. "Save it."</p><p>"Cal!" Cere called from across the battlefield.</p><p>He and Merrin looked up to see her kneeling next to a fallen trooper, his lightsaber in hand.</p><p>She tossed it to him, hurling across the distance between them, the silver hilt flying true to Cal's outstretched palm. Blue stabbed up towards the sky as his thumb hit the ignition switch.</p><p>Reinforcements were pouring in from all corners, and Cal felt BD-1 scurry up to take his normal perch on Cal's shoulder as the two Jedi and the Nightsister squared off and prepared to face the incoming troopers.</p><p>Cal braced for a hard fight that never happened; heavy turbolaser bolts peppered the area as the <em>Mantis</em> came screaming down from overhead.<br/>

</p>
<p>Greez's voice crackled from their comlinks.</p><p>"<em>You owe me for this one, kid,</em>" he grumbled. "<em>Ship's got scratches all over her nice new paintjob</em>."</p><p>That seemed to be the final brick that sunk the reality in for Cal; he was being rescued. He wasn't going to be sold to the Empire. They had saved him.</p><p>He nearly choked on his relief but managed a sly quip. "She looks good like this, Greez. Gives her spunk and character."</p><p>"<em>Watch that mouth of yours or you're gonna find yourself buffing and repainting her at the next port of call</em>," Greez shot back, but the threat was light-hearted, the Latero's tone amused and fond. "<em>All right, playtime's over, everyone back on the bus</em>," he ordered.</p><p>Their feet were light across the ground as they ran, leaping up onto the <em>Mantis</em>'s open and lowered ramp.</p>
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